TONGUE TANTILISERS (Cayenne)

Member Name: jingles

Product:	Cayenne
Date:	30/08/01 (165 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The food is really something special

Disadvantages: Some may find it expensive

I must admit that last night l had what must be the most exquisite culinary experience of my life. Janice and Stephen (friends) my partner David and myself treated ourselves to a meal in CAYENNE (formerly Roscoff's).

Cayenne is situated at 7 Lesley House Shaftesbury Square, Belfast. Telephone number 028 90 331532. It has a cracker central location on Belfast’s Golden Mile. It was formerly the Roscoff's restaurant. The restaurant has not changed hands simply the owners Paul and Jeanne Rankin decided on a change of direction. Instead of the frumpy clinical dining for the great and the good, with their gold and platinum cards, they opened up their doors to the wider public to let them enjoy their amazing culinary skills. Some of you may recognise the name Paul Rankin - he's Northern Irelands very own celebrity chef and regular on programmes such as Ready Steady Cook.

Head Chef at present is a guy called Andy Rea - and boy can he cook!

On entering Cayenne my first impressions were - very contemporary. Sitting at the bar come waiting area snacks such as mini popadoms, and spicy popcorn were available. In the restaurant area the lighting really struck me - gradually and subtly moving from red to orange and back. Frosted glass windows give diners privacy. The entire restaurant has an air of exclusiveness - yet it’s not pretentious. We were seated a large round table with loads of room of animated conversation and for getting stuck into the glorious food!

The menu will not break the bank; it’s reasonable - not cheap. Approximately appetisers are £6, main courses are £13, and desserts are £4.50.
Variety is the word of the day - you have your choice of appetisers, soups, salads, rice and noodle dishes, main dishes, side orders and of course desserts.

The staff are amazing (lm using that word a lot !!) - Courteous, yet friendly, willing to advise on dishes yet share a joke with the customers.
They really seem genuinely interested in their customers. Id like to thank Kathy our waitress for making a great evening marvellous.

Well onto the food....

Appetisers - at our table we had duck comfit with seared veg, vegetable sushi, crabsticks and chilli squid. Other dishes included goats cheese puff pizza. The flavours were intense yet not overpowering, colours and the aesthetics of the food was great and well as for the taste.... Amazing!

Mains - a melee of poultry, game, fish and meat were on offer. We had chicken parfait with chargrilled veg and chilli butter, veal liver on a pea mash, Moroccan lamb with chickpea salsa, and breast of duck with korma lentils. Side orders of house veg and mash also accompanied the dishes. Oh my god! Food was cooked to perfection - succulent, oozing with flavour, really manna from heaven! The vegetables had a lovely crunch texture and the mash was dreamy!

Desserts - we choose bramble and apple crumble with a cinnamon ice cream, white chocolate cheese cake, caramelised rice pudding with cinnamon peaches and summer fruit sorbet. How much praise can l give in one opinion l wonder! This was decadence on a plate, melt in your mouth, delicious - simply orgasmic!!

A comprehensive wine list accompanied the food menu, with something for all palates. The average price of a glass being £3 and of a bottle between £12 - 15.

A meal for 4 was with drinks - £120 for 3 course and coffee. For the standard and quality of the food it really was well worth every penny.

I honestly really and true recommend this restaurant as being one of the best if not thee best restaurant in Belfast. One word of advice though - book well in advance especially for weekend dining its extremely popular with all age groups.

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